


This is what family feels like

by Cats_Dont_Float



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Eventual Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Grubs (Homestuck), I need sleep, M/M, and have some relationship realisations on the way, dave and karkat take care of grubs, i didn't realise this fic was gonna be so long wow, i've been writing for like six hours straight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 18:20:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21360637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cats_Dont_Float/pseuds/Cats_Dont_Float
Summary: Sometime after reaching Earth C, Karkat ends up caring for a litter of grubs as a favour to Kanaya. Dave pays his friend a visit to help out, and ends up becoming a little more involved in the weird family dynamic than he’d expected.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 6
Kudos: 133





	This is what family feels like

It’s early in the morning, the cold, winter sun only just rising and slowly warming the frosted grass of the garden below. Dave stands by the kitchen window, a warm cup of bitter coffee clutched tightly in his hands, staring blankly outside. He hasn’t slept in… how long has it been? At this point, he’s almost forgotten, though his internal clock that’s constantly ticking at the back of his mind tell him it’s been too many days. A few more hours and he’s likely to collapse. Even so, he chugs back the coffee, scalding his tongue which worsens the bitter taste, and hopes the caffeine will keep him going for another day at least.

It’s then that his phone, abandoned on the kitchen side not too far away, starts to ring. He stares at it for a second, running through all the possible people that could be calling. It’s definitely not Dirk, it’s too early for him, even if he’s having one of those wonderful bouts of Strider insomnia like Dave is. Too early for Roxy as well, and Rose doesn’t like to call during what she calls ‘unsociable hours’. She’s probably busy making breakfast with Kanaya before the two go off to work with the mother grub for the day anyway. Maybe it’s John, or Jade, though they don’t call much, mostly just turn up randomly on the doorstep with no warning. Terezi doesn’t call, she just sends thousands of texts until someone finally replies. Maybe Karkat, though he hasn’t spoken to Karkat in… too long. There’s been a lot unsaid between those two, and it’s getting awkward, Dave realises.

After a second, he realises his phone’s going to stop ringing anytime soon, and quickly flash steps over to scoops it up. Sure enough, there on the display is the name ‘Karkitty’ with a thousand cat emojis following it. Dave stares for a second more, and then lets out a small sigh, and swipes to reply.

“Sup,” he says, raising the phone to his ear with a smirk.

“Hey, sorry, it’s early,” Karkat says, and he sounds… stressed. Dave can practically hear the way Karkat’s probably pulling at his hair in stress, or biting at his lower lip in that overly attractive way. “Dave?” Karkat calls, “Can you hear me?” Oops, he’s been lost in thought again.

“Sorry, I’m here,” Dave sighs, “I’m just… tired.”

“Yeah, me fucking too,” Karkat huffs.

“You okay, dude?” Dave’s a little concerned now. Karkat never admits to tiredness, or anything else that could be portrayed as weak, that easily.

“This is gonna sound really fucking rude, but I’ve kind of actually rung to ask for a favour,” Karkat sighs.

“The famous Karkat ‘I need no man’s help’ Vantas is calling me for help?” Dave laughs softly, “Must be serious. What’s up?”

“Kanaya sprung some fucking shit on me a few days ago. And as her moirail I couldn’t exactly say no but… shit I’m no good at this, Dave. I can’t fucking do this, but I can’t let them down, and I just don’t know what to do and I-”

“Karkat!” Dave snaps, cutting off the rambling from the other side of the phone, before continuing in a gentler voice, “Dude, just tell me what’s wrong, I’ll help as best I can.”

There’s a small, shaky sigh of relief that’s crackling through the phone signal. “Thank you, Dave,” Karkat says quietly, “Could you maybe just come over here? I know it’s early and you’ve probably got plans for today but I really-”

“Nope, no plans,” Dave says, “I’m getting my shit together right now, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you, so much,” Karkat sighs. There’s a small crash from the background and he swears loudly. “I gotta go,” Karkat says, “See you soon.” Then he hangs up. Dave stares at the phone for a second more, an eyebrow arched in confusion, and then rushes to go find his shoes.

Sixteen minutes and twenty five seconds later he lands on Karkat’s doorstep, out of breath from flying so fast and shaking from the caffeine now coursing through his veins. He raises a hand to knock on the door, but before he can it swings open and a hand reaches out from within to grab his wrist and pulls him inside roughly.

“Thank flying fuck!” Karkat gasps when the door’s shut behind Dave, “Thank you so much for coming, I had no idea who else to ask.”

“It’s fine, dude, chill,” Dave says, kicking his shoes off, “Now, what’s up?”

Karkat rolls his eyes with a sigh, and reaches out for Dave’s arm, dragging him towards the living room. When they round the corner into the room, it’s instantly clear what Karkat’s problem is.

Grubs. The room is full of grubs.

“Holy shit, dude,” Dave whispers, instantly crouching to inspect a nearby grub that’s sniffing at him, “How the fuck did you get these?”

“I told you, Kanaya,” Karkat huffed, “Apparently the mother grub was having some problems or some shit, and these guys needed a foster parent. Dunno why she picked me.”

“Awww, you’re a mother,” Dave smirks, standing back up and watching as one grub attempts to climb up the leg of the sofa.

“What the fuck is a mother?” Karkat asks, “Oh right, your Earth human lusus thing.”

“As funny as it is hearing you try to understand human culture, and really, it’s fucking hilarious,” Dave says, “I think you’ve gotta sort these grubs out first. They’re sorta wrecking your hive.”

It’s true, the grubs really are destroying everything. The weird mix of human and troll furniture that fills Karkat’s living room shows signs of being chewed on by the sharp fangs of grubs, and Dave’s sure the rest of the rooms of Karkat’s hive probably look similar.

“I know,” Karkat groans, running a hand through his hair, “What do I do?”

He’s not sure what it is, maybe it’s how distressing it is to see Karkat this stressed,or maybe it’s the fact that he hasn’t seen him in a while and just wants to spend time with a friend, or else it’s something to do with the weird, confusing feelings he’s got for Karkat; but whatever it is causes Dave to make a quick decision.

“The first thing you can do is sort out your spare bedroom,” he says with a smirk.

“Why?” Karkat turns to him, confused as ever.

“Because I’m gonna stay with you and help take care of these little fuckers,” Dave declares, taking a step back as a fuschia-blooded grub runs at him.

“Wait, really?” Karkat asks, looking over at Dave, tired eyes now wide with surprise.

“Yeah, sure, dude, no biggie,” Dave shrugs, pretending he’s not already super excited about spending a while living with Karkat. His nonchalance is disrupted tough by Karkat, a constant surprise, throwing himself at him and wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Holy fuck, thank you!” Karkat gasps, “You have no idea how stressed I’ve been.”

“How long have you had them?” Dave asks.

“Three days,” Karkat sighs, “And they’ve already wrecked my life.” He steps back from Dave, patting him heavily on the shoulder as he does so, and then looks down at a group of grubs with a huff. “This’ll be fun,” he declares, and for once he doesn’t sound quite as sarcastic as usual.

***********

“So, how many grubs are there?” Dave asks a while later, as him and Karkat are attempting to clean up the mess that is Karkat’s kitchen.

“Sixteen,” Karkat sighs.

“Why the fuck are there that many?” Dave says with a raised eyebrow. Karkat shrugs tiredly, throwing aside a black bag containing the remains of several smashed mugs. “You know we could just call Kanaya for advice on how to actually care for these things,” Dave suggests.

“No!” Karkat snaps. When Dave turns to throw a look at him, he sighs and glances down at his hands. “I just wanna be good at something for once without Kanaya’s help.”

“Karkat Shouty McNubs Vantas,” Dave begins dramatically with a hand held to his heart, pretending to stagger in shock.

“Stop making up middle names for me.”

“You,” Dave continues, sweeping closer to him, “Are good at so many things. Stop. Beating. Yourself. Up.” He punctuates each word with a poke to Karkat’s chest, until the troll is stumbling backwards and snarling halfheartedly.

“Whatever,” Karkat grumbles, crossing his arms tightly over his chest, though Dave can clearly see the way he’s fighting back a smile.

Dave shakes his head with a smirk, propping the broom he’s been using to clean up against a wall. “Well, if we’re not asking Kanaya, we’d better ask Google,” he sighs, “Unless you want us to kill all these grubs through some of our usual accidental idiocy.”

“Sure,” Karkat shrugs reluctantly, “I remember a bit about being a grub but… as a mutant I don’t exactly think I had the most normal upbringing.”

“We could ask Terezi.”

“She was raised by a literal egg.”

“Oh, yeah. Wow you guys had more fucked childhoods than us humans,” Dave laughs softly, leaning back on the counter behind him. “Wait, we’ve left the grubs unsupervised too long,” he realises suddenly.

“Oh, fuck!” Karkat shouts, and within seconds he’s rushing off to living and is groaning despairingly. Dave smirks; it’s going to be a fun few weeks.

************

Later that night, once they’ve managed to set up appropriate nests for the grubs to convince them to stop tearing the furniture apart, and fed them with some porridge and mealworms, Dave and Karkat finally manage to relax.

“Why’d you put them in your living room, dude?” Dave asks as they both realise they’ll have to spend the evening in Karkat’s room due to the living room being overrun by grubs.

Karkat shrugs. “Was sorta just the closest room. I was thinking about moving them into the spare room, but now you’re staying there,” he grins wearily as he says it, and runs a hand through his messy hair.

“Could always share your bed,” Dave flirts, wiggling his eyebrows though they’re barely visible above his shades.

“Fuck off, Strider!” Karkat declares with a laugh, shoving him sideways before heading up the stairs towards his room. Dave watches him go with a slight sigh. As much as he loves fucking around with Karkat, there’s always a part of him wishing he could flirt with Karkat and actually have it taken seriously, though he knows deep down he’d never do anything to ruin their friendship.

Luckily, Karkat’s got a tv in his bedroom, and so they put on a movie, some comedy that’s got just the right mixture of bad humour and romance to please both of them, and settle on Karkat’s bed. It’s soft, and heaped with pillows and blankets.

“Finally realised the superiority of human furniture, did you?” Dave teases, lifting a pillow to trap it between his head and the headboard as he leans backwards.

“Yeah,” Karkat admits, “Easier to alchemise too.”

“Fuck yeah it is,” Dave agrees. Sitting so close to Karkat on his bed, he’s suddenly uncomfortably aware of every single part of his body, and starts to fidget with his hands until finally folding them onto his lap. Karkat glances at him curiously, but says nothing, and the two are silent for a while as the movie starts.

It’s a movie Dave’s seen before, and after a while he stops paying much attention. Karkat, however, seems to be fully obsessed, staring intensely at the screen whenever Dave glances quickly at him. Eventually, when he’s certain he’s unlikely to be caught, Dave allows himself to properly look at Karkat, just for a little while. He’s grown in the last few months, only slightly, and he’s still got that adorably, slightly chubby figure that makes him look so comforting, but he’s definitely getting taller. He looks older too, and more tired, but that’s probably just the grubs. And he started growing facial hair recently, not much, just a small dark patch on his chin, but Dave can’t help loving it. Karkat shaves it off too often though, saying it makes him look like his ancestor, which is apparently not the look he’s going for.

Unfortunately, Dave gets a little lost in his surveyance of Karkat, and is caught off guard when the troll suddenly glances over at him.

“What are you looking at?” He asks quietly.

“Nothing,” Dave says, then, “You.”

“Why?”

Dave just shrugs, and leans back further against the pillow. “Not much better to stare at,” he smirks. Karkat flushes, and, as usual, instantly covers his red cheeks with his hands, an instinctive habit he’s still not shaken off after life on Alternia. But there’s something else on his face other than embarrassment, something Dave can’t quite read, hidden in the way he picks at his claws and bites at his lower lip, smile vanishing for a second. Dave doesn’t comment on it though, and just looks back up at the movie, hoping Karkat won’t notice that he too is blushing very slightly in the dimly lit room.

When the movie ends, it’s getting late, and Karkat’s been yawning continuously for the last half an hour. Dave’s starting to shake very slightly as the aftereffects of days of no sleep and far too much coffee start to kick in.

“We should get some sleep,” Dave suggests, “Got a whole lot more grub care to be doing in the morning.”

“Ugh, yeah,” Karkat scoffs, but there’s no real hatred in his words. Though Dave won’t ever tell a soul, he’s noticed a few times the way that Karkat will smile when the grubs attempt to climb on him, or nuzzle at his legs. Despite his moaning, Karkat seems to like being a parent, or at least the idea of it.

“See you in the morning,” Dave says, scooting off of Karkat’s bed and stretching out his back and arms with a cracking noise that makes the troll grimace. He ruffles Karkat’s hair gently with a smirk, then turns and leaves the room, hearing Karkat spluttering behind him as he walks away down the hall.

Karkat’s guest bedroom is nice, the bed neatly made and plenty of pillows and spare blankets. Dave pulls off the jeans he’s been wearing all day, leaving on his shirt and boxers, and then just crawls straight into bed. He’ll have to go back to his house at some point tomorrow and get more clothes, he realises, but right then he’s really too tired to care. He pulls his shades off his face, wincing as the bright light hits his eyes for the first time in a while, then folds them gently and puts them down by the side of the bed along with his phone. Within a few minutes of him switching off the light, he’s already falling asleep.

**********

Dave’s woken up the next morning by Karkat shaking his shoulder gently. When he blinks his eyes open slowly, Karkat’s leaning right over him and looking slightly concerned.

“Grub feeding time,” he tells Dave with a roll of his eyes, “Feel free to use the shower, I’ll meet you downstairs in a bit.”

“Alright,” Dave mutters, reaching for his shades quickly and putting them over his face, “Oh, right, I’ve gotta go back home and get some clothes and stuff later,” he adds.

“Oh yeah,” Karkat says. He turns back for a second, hesitates, then holds up a hand as if telling him to wait there, and then rushes off. Dave stares for a second, and he’s not waiting long for Karkat to return. When the troll gets back, he’s holding a black shirt with his grey cancer symbol printed on the front.

“What?” Dave mutters, still too tired to really work out what’s happening.

“It might not fit you but it’ll do ‘til you can get more,” Karkat shrugs, throwing it to him. Dave catches it, and looks down curiously.

“Oh, thanks,” he says, and tries to pretend he’s not blushing at the thought of wearing Karkat’s shirt.

“See you in a bit, idiot,” Karkat says with a small smile, and then disappears off downstairs.

Once he’s gone, Dave gathers up the shirt and his jeans from the day before, and finds a towel in one of the drawers in the room, then heads away to the bathroom. He lets the shower run hot whilst pulling his shirt and boxers off, then steps into the water once it’s hot enough that steam’s starting to curl off of the walls. He showers quickly, because showers always make his thoughts go to places he doesn’t want to, and he really doesn’t want to be thinking about Karkat whilst he’s showering. Then he dries himself off, taking a few seconds to inspect his body in the foggy mirror like he always does. The scars from the game are, of course, still there, but he’s been working out a lot more recently, and his muscles are more defined now, his skin not quite as pale as usual since he’s been visiting Jade to help her with her gardening quite often. He dwells for a second, convinces himself how he looks really doesn’t matter right now, and then reaches down for the pile of clothes on the floor. Wearing his boxers from the day before is uncomfortable, but he reminds himself it’s only for one day, and then pulls on his jeans as well. He has to take a second when he goes to pull Karkat’s shirt over his head, and isn’t able to stop himself from pressing it to his face gently for a second and inhaling. It smells exactly like Karkat: warm, musty and a faint hint of cinnamon that Dave’s never been able to trace the origin of. He smiles at the scent, then pulls it over his head.

The shirt doesn’t fit him properly; it’s too wide and not long enough, exposing a small sliver of skin above the waistband of his jeans, but it’s good enough for now, and he dries his hair off as best as possible with the towel before heading back out of the bathroom. Once he’s put his stuff back in the bedroom, he traipses downstairs.

Karkat’s in the living room, sitting cross-legged on the floor with grubs climbing all over him. Dave stands at the door, Karkat’s back to him, and watches, unnoticed, for a while. Karkat’s cooing gently to the grubs, and scratching one gently behind the horns. It’s adorable really, and only confirms Dave’s suspicions that Karkat’s not as angry about the whole situation as he’s acting.

“Hey,” he says after a few moments of watching, when he’s starting to feel a little creepy, “Morning.” He strolls on in and sits himself down next to Karkat, stretching his legs out but being careful not to kick any grubs. Instantly, a violet-blood is crawling onto his knee, and he pats it gently on the head between its horns.

“Morning,” Karkat grunts back, picking up an olive-blood who’s trying to climb onto his shoulder and settling it back in his lap. He glances over at Dave then, and flushes very slightly.

“Admiring how good I look in your shirt?” Dave smirks, gently herding the violet-blood back onto the floor to let a fuschia-blood take its place.

“No,” Karkat mutters.

“Yeah, right. You’re looking at me and thinking ‘wow, he’s boyfriend material’, aren’t you?” Dave pushes his shades up into his air so Karkat can properly see how much he’s waggling his eyebrows, and the troll sneers.

“Fuck off, I am not,” Karkat declares, “You’re like… the opposite of boyfriend material. You’re the furthest from being boyfriend material that’s possible. Also the word boyfriend is culturally insensitive, it’s matesprit, thank you very much.”

“Starting to sound like Kankri,” Dave declares, “Soon you’ll be telling me I’m triggering you.”

“Oh fuck off!”

“Better be careful, otherwise one of these grubs is gonna say ‘fuck’ as their first word and we’re gonna have a lot of explaining to do to Kanaya,” Dave laughs.

“Oh, yeah, sh- shoot,” Karkat corrects himself, cradling the olive-blood he seems to have taken a preference to.

Dave laughs loudly, head thrown back, shades almost slipping backwards to the floor. “So,” he says after a second, when the laughter’s passed, “Any of these guys got names?”

“Nah, don’t wanna get attached,” Karkat says quietly, “I’m not gonna be keeping any of these guys, and I’m not gonna be their proper parent. It shouldn’t be me who gets to name them.” He shrugs, gently scratching the stomach of a jade-blooded grub who’s rolling around nearby, and smiles as it chirps quietly.

“Well, if it’s anything, I think you’d be a great parent,” Dave says, getting up to his feet and patting Karkat on the head as he goes, intending to head to the kitchen and get coffee and food.

“Thank you, Strider,” Karkat says, and he says it so heartfeltly that Dave actually stop and turns to look at him. The troll’s staring down at his hands with a red face, picking at his claws. “I never thought I’d be good at caring for others. But if I can look after these grubs then…”

“You’re great at caring for people,” Dave corrects him, “You looked after me a whole lot on that meteor, I know that for a fact.” Not for the first time, he’s struck by the sudden urge to just sit and hold Karkat in his arms...maybe even kiss him… No. He shakes the thought from his head, and instead just smiles a lopsided smile at Karkat, and then turns and leaves for the kitchen.

After breakfast, Dave manages to shake any weird thoughts about Karkat from his mind, and they spend the rest of the day just learning about the grubs and caring for them and playing with them. Karkat’s weirdly naturally protective of them, constantly sweeping in at the last minute to save them from harm. Dave enjoys just watching him interact with them; it’s nice to see Karkat getting to know his own species he always felt so seperate from. At one point Dave goes home quickly, getting himself enough clothes to last a while so he doesn’t have to leave Karkat again, and then he spends the evening teach the grubs how to hunt for snacks in hidden places in the living room.

From there, the days start to blur together. Each day Karkat and Dave learn more about the grubs and how to care for them, and each night they watch tv and movies together in Karkat’s room until they’re both exhausted and Dave drags himself off to his own room. One time he wakes up and finds himself curled up in Karkat’s bed, the troll nowhere to be found, and finds out later that he fell asleep first and Karkat simply let him sleep there, and woke up a little earlier than him in the morning so he wouldn’t get embarrassed. That becomes a thing after a while; the two of them tiptoeing around the weird little things that happen between them and just acting like it’s no big deal. But Dave knows, deep down, that he’s falling head over heels for Karkat. Or maybe he already did a long time ago. But whether Karkat feels the same, well he just can’t work that out.

Then one morning, when Dave’s been staying there for almost two weeks and living with Karkat just feels normal now, he’s woken by shouts of his name. Instantly he’s on his feet and running downstairs, worried by the panic he can hear in Karkat’s voice. He races into the living room to find Karkat on the floor, crouched by what looks like… oh god. Are those dead grubs?

Dave drops to his knees quickly, and crawls over to where Karkat’s moving aside what seems to be grubs but… they aren’t quite. They’re almost… empty.

“What happened?” Dave asks quietly, “Did they all die?”

“No,” Karkat says softly, and his hands are shaking, “They’ve all gone into molt.”

“Oh,” Dave says, “So these are like exoskeletons, right?” He scoops up one, that looks so much like the fuschia-blood it scares him. “Did they just slide out of them in the middle of the night?”

“I guess,” Karkat shrugs, “It’s weird they’ve all done it at the same time, though. Most of the time it depends on their blood caste. But I suppose the fact that they’ve grown up close together means it’s affected their molt cycle or something. Really panicked me, though.”

“Yeah,” Dave says, “They really do look dead, huh?” He glances over at the nests, where the freshly-molted grubs must be hiding, and sighs. “So, do we get a few days peace from them?”

“Yeah, they’ll be hibernating or whatever until their new shells are hard enough to keep them safe,” Karkat explains, “Should be around twenty-four hours, though it depends on their blood and such.” He lets out a heavy sigh, and then says, “You could go home for a a night if you want.”

“And let you be here alone when they all wake up?” Dave laughs softly, “Absolutely not.” Mostly, he thinks, he just wants to spend more time with Karkat without the grubs to distract them from each other.

“Well, I gotta get out of the house, so we’re going somewhere while we can,” Karkat says, getting to his feet with a grunt.

And so they leave the house a while later and go out to a nearby cafe to get coffee and food, and then they go for a walk in the local park. It’s quiet outside, not many people around, and they walk around slowly, enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air of finally being outside after so many days.

As they’re walking, Karkat’s hand brushes gently against Dave’s. But, instead of Karkat ignoring it like Dave does, he quickly reaches out, grabs onto Dave’s hand, and laces their fingers together. Dave looks down curiously, then back up, and sees that Karkat is blushing as much as he is. The two stare for a second, and then Dave smiles very slightly, letting himself hope, for just a second, that Karkat might feel the same way he does.

“You okay?” Dave asks quietly.

“Yeah,” Karkat says with a small smile, “I just… I think…”

“Yeah, I know,” Dave replies, because in Karkat’s silence he can feel the words that he’s been trying to say for ages.

“Um, should we go home soon?” Karkat suggest quietly.

“Anxious to get home to your kids?” Dave teases gently.

“I think at this point they’re _our_ kids,” Karkat replies, “And yeah, I really am.” He sighs heavily. “I just don’t want them to be alone.”

“Yeah, it’s okay,” Dave says, smiling and swinging Karkat’s hand slightly, “Let’s go home.” It’s only when they’re almost back that he realises that he’s started calling Karkat’s house his home.

When they get in, though, the grubs are all still fast asleep, and the house is quiet. Karkat lets out a sigh of relief, and flops down onto the sofa, not letting go of Dave’s hand, and instead just pulling him down by his side. Dave lets out a small ‘oof’ and as he falls, and lands half on Karkat’s chest. They’re faces are slightly too close together, and Dave laughs gently, his breath moving the hair around the edge of Karkat’s face.

“Well, hi there,” Dave laughs softly.

“Hi,” Karkat murmurs quietly. There’s a second of silence in which the both of them lean in a little closer, eyes flickering up to meet each others’ nervously and then both of them quickly glancing away. Neither of them are really sure who does it, but someone closes the distance between the two of them, and then they’re kissing. Karkat lets out a loud chirp of surprise against Dave’s lips, opening his mouth a little as he does, allowing Dave to deepen the kiss. Karkat instantly raises his hands and grips tightly at Dave’s hair, pulling very gently so that Dave gasps slightly. After a few moments, though, Karkat pushes him back, and quickly glances away, rubbing at his face anxiously.

“You alright?” Dave asks curiously, doing his best to disguise how heavily he’s breathing after that kiss.

“Yeah I’m just.. Not good at that,” Karkat sighs.

“What?” Dave murmurs.

“I’m not good at kissing, or relationships in general or, you know…” Karkat sighs, “I’m worried I’m not really good enough for you.”

“Karkat, please stop shitting on yourself constantly,” Dave murmurs softly with a sad laugh, “I have been so in love with you for… years, probably. You could never not be good enough for me.” He leans in gently, bumping his nose gently against Karkat’s, then smiles. “And I think you’re a lot better of a kisser than you think,” he adds, before leaning in and kissing him again.

That night, after a day spent lazing around the house, joking around with each other and kissing and just being stupid idiots in love, they collapse into Karkat’s bed together and curl up in each other’s arms.

“Wish I’d realised how much I liked you sooner,” Karkat mumbles, nuzzling his cheek against Dave’s gently.

“It’s alright,” Dave says quietly, “We’re gods, we've got our whole lives together, haven’t we? I’m immortal, Jane’s life powers can keep you alive forever, and we’ll both be fine.”

Karkat purrs loudly very suddenly, and nudges his head against Dave’s jaw with far too much force. “You’d really wanna be with me forever?” He asks quietly.

“Of course,” Dave says, “You're like, the best person I’ve ever met Karkat. I love you. I think I have since the first year on the meteor, when we stopped hating each other and realised we were the same deep down.” He kisses Karkat’s nose gently, before adding, “Also, you’re super adorable. And hot.”

Karkat splutters and pushes Dave away. “Yeah, alright, alright,” he laughs, then leans back in gently to whisper, “Flushed for you too.” Dave grins tiredly, and rests his head down gently onto Karkat’s shoulder. He tries to think of something sweet to say, but before he can, he slowly starts to drift off to sleep. Just as he reaches that point halfway between sleep and consciousness, he feels Karkat press a kiss to the top of his head, and falls into a deeper sleep with a smile on his face.

*********

They get up together in the morning for the first time, taking turns in the shower whilst the other gets dressed and brushes their teeth, then they make breakfast, exchanging sweet kisses that taste of toothpaste and the weird tea that Karkat’s taking to drinking. It’s so perfect, so… domestic. And compared to everything they’ve been through in the last few years, the calm and bliss of it is the best thing they’ve experienced in a while.

A while later, whilst they’re curled up together on the couch, kissing passionately instead of watching the tv programme that Dave had put on ages ago, there’s a movement on Dave’s leg, and he looks down to see a teal-blood crawling up his leg.

“Oh,” Dave says, pushing Karkat backwards slightly, “They’re waking up.” Looking over reveals a few other grubs starting to crawl from their nests too, and Karkat instantly drops to his knees on the floor and scoops a few of them up into his arms. Dave smiles, watching him for a second, and then joins him on the floor, taking the teal-blood with him and cradling it gently.

“Our kids are awake,” Dave jokes lightly, taking a rust-blood from Karkat and gently placing it in his lap.

“Mmh,” Karkat hums softly, “I guess they are.”

“You look sad,” Dave says quietly.

“Kan said they only had to stay here til they got through their first molt,” he says, looking down at them, “I think I’m gonna miss these guys.”

Dave leans over gently to press a kiss to Karkat’s cheek. “I thought we weren’t gonna get attached to them,” he said with a smile. But even so he reached out to gently squeeze Karkat’s thigh. “Maybe we can get a new litter soon,” he suggests.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Karkat says with a confident nod, gently scratching the jade-blood between its horns. “I think we’ve gotten quite a lot out of this experience, huh?”

“Yeah,” Dave smiled, “I got one great thing.”

“What?” Karkat asks quietly.

“You,” Dave hums softly, and leans in to gently press a kiss to Karkat’s lips.

“Fucking sap,” Karkat mumbles, face flushed red, and then leans his head sideways against Dave’s shoulder.

“You love me anyway.”

“Sure do.”

***********

They end up keeping the grubs for another whole week, during which the grubs seem to be less hassle and better at taking care of themselves. The night before Kanaya’s due to come and pick the grubs up, Dave and Karkat lay down together on the sofa, Karkat laying against Dave’s chest, listening to the sound of the grubs chirping and trilling at each other.

Dave runs a hand gently over Karkat’s back, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as he does so, and smiles as Karkat lets out a chirping noise similar to the ones the grubs are making.

“You’re so fucking cute,” Dave tells him. Karkat just laughs, pressing his face into Dave’s chest with a small, happy sigh. A few seconds later, an olive-blood grub scrambles up over Karkat’s back, and snuggles into a space between the two men. “Aww look, here’s another cutie,” Dave hums softly, patting the grub on the head tiredly. Karkat laughs, blinking at the grub before lowering his head again.

“Hey, Dave,” Karkat asks quietly, “Not now but… would you ever wanna maybe have kids? Like… adopt some grubs, maybe?”

Dave lifts his head gently, careful not to disturb the grub, staring down at the troll fondly, wondering exactly where this new side of his has come from but loving it no matter what. “Karkat, I would fucking love that,” he says softly, “We’d make fucking great parents. Especially you.”

Karkat purrs, nuzzling further into Dave’s chest. “Okay,” he says, voice muffled, the tips of his ears practically glowing bright red, “Good to know.” He clears his throat roughly in an attempt to not sound like he's getting quite so emotional.

Dave chuckles gently, running a hand over Karkat’s head and then laughing as the grub whines at being moved. He’s not sure what’s going to happen in the future, but what he does know is that he gets to spend it with Karkat, and whatever it is he’s found here, he’s sure he’s finally found the true meaning of family. And more than that, now he knows love.

**Author's Note:**

> I am a big idiot who keeps forgetting I have an actual incomplete fic to be finished. College has been kicking my ass recently so like writing shorter fics like this is a lot more relaxing and easy for me, but if you're reading my other fic, The Greatest Danger, I promise there's a new chapter almost finished.
> 
> Anyway, cute grub stuff. Love it. Had to write it. Wrote this entire thing in like six hours. Got home from college, started writing and literally posted this as I went to sleep. I might have a problem. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! :)


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